'Swiss Miss' still a big hit in China
Known in China since the early 1990s, Swiss tennis star Martina Hingis still enjoys enduring popularity in the country where she sees a bright future for the game.
From her Grand Slam-winning prime in the mid-to-late 1990s - when she became the youngest Grand Slam singles winner in the 20th century by winning the 1997 Australian Open aged 16 years and 3 months - to her current renaissance as a doubles player, Hingis' elegant and decisive style of play has endured every bit as much as her popularity with Chinese tennis fans.
At the ongoing China Open, Hingis' first-round doubles victory with current partner Coco Vandeweghe over Maria Irigoyen and Tatjana Maria on Monday was celebrated by a boisterous group of Chinese fans who chanted her name while holding posters adorned with both her picture and her Chinese nickname "Swiss princess".
